Summary: I have had this unit just over one year. The wine side of the unit began to overheat - the beverage side nearly froze. Luckily, we were home and caught it at 70 degrees. We had over $500 worth of wine in the unit.
As the unit is under warranty, we contacted Danby. Having no service company in our area, they had to arrange for one. This took several extra days. Talking personally with their technical support, I can see why perhaps they are having difficulty establishing a relationship, but I don't know. Judge for yourself.
The technician that worked on the unit told me that it apparently has a blockage somewhere in the sealed system, but that his company has stopped making these repairs. It was his company's policy. He explained that these repairs are cumbersome, expensive and often take multiple trips to accomplish. This was not Danby - this was a service company. As the technician was quite professional and courteous, I am compelled to give his opinion some weight, but it is really an aside to the story.
Danby's technical support disputes this claim that the repair is difficult, time consuming and to expensive to be profitable.
Be that as it may. Perhaps they should have made the repair, but that's not even my complaint. My complaint is how I was treated.
I was sorely disappointed in the manner of Danby's personnel. Vikki (sp?) seemed to be quite annoyed that I should be calling. In fact, though I simply went through the switchboard and never asked for "Vikki" (though I did mention her name when I first got through) "Vikki" was quite annoyed and asked quite briskly "did he give you this number?"
Being curious as to when my unit might actually be repaired, I had called merely to inquire as to a time frame. This seemed to perturb "Vikki." My problem seemed secondary to her Friday afternoon.
Moreover, since I had them on the phone (after a very lengthy hold - and this our third call) I had the unmitigated gall to suggest that the opinion of the service technician (that they sent) might indeed have some merit. I mentioned that if it is indeed the case that this may take multiple visits to repair, I would prefer another tactic. After all, maybe I won't be home next time and I'll lose my wine - fully stocked, it isn't unreasonable to say there could be several thousand dollars invested. I never got to make my case, so if you get "Vikki" on the phone, save your breath.
I never even got to say, "I'd prefer to replace the unit given the professional advice I'd just received." She was quite put out that I'd called in the first place. She seemed to be of the opinion that once my paperwork was in the system, I should be grateful and sit and wait. Sort of a tough luck buddy approach to customer service I suppose.
Every time I tried to suggest anything or even to get the situation straight in my mind, Vikki would cut me off and take the opportunity to talk down to me. "If you don't want to wait then you need to take it up with the retailer" she snipped. As the conversation progressed it became more and more apparent that this customer was on her nerves. She was quite short indeed. Having been cut off by "Vikki" several times, I did step on her once and boy did she let me know it.
So, in the end, I am effectively told to sit and wait until they get around to standing behind their product which, on top of the week it took to arrange the first repair attempt, should be another three or four days. Today is 1/09/09. I will update this review as things develop.
I know customer service. This ain't it.
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